Kunisaki Izumo No Jijō

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Aya Hirakawa. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' magazine from January 2010 to March 2014, with its chapters collected in nineteen ''tankōbon'' volumes. Two drama CDs were bundled with the 7th and 11th volumes of the manga in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Story

Izumo Kunisaki, a boy often mistaken as a girl, is an ''onnagata'' (female role) actor in the Japanese traditional stage play kabuki. The series follows Izumo's school and actor life. Izumo performs some of the most famous roles in kabuki, solving problems and gaining friends along the way.

Characters

Main characters

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: kabuki actor and first year student of the entertainment division in Shijogawara High School. Born to a kabuki-performing family Kunisaki, he began his acting career in his childhood, but had not performed for eight years due to his parents' separation and his own antipathy for playing female roles. With his feminine looks, he is a natural as a female impersonator, and attracts both male and female characters in and out of the stage. He dislikes cross-dressing, but is often forced to wear female clothing. He works part-time as a maid in a maid cafe. In school he proves to have good sense in sports. He is also an excellent cook.
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:An ''onnagata'' actor in ''Kunisaki-ya''. As a senior apprentice, Kagato teaches Izumo female role performance. He is a talented actor with beautiful features and delicate health. He falls ill before his stage performance, forcing Izumo to fill in and re-start his ''onnagata'' career. He often cross-dresses under the pretext of the "study of ''onnagata''", but Izumo suspects he only likes it. He is enthusiastic about teaching Izumo the art of the ''onnagata'', but sometimes his enthusiasm is a little too overwhelming...
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:Son of a distinguished kabuki family ''Togashiki-ya'', and a actor. Second year student of the entertainment division in Shijogawara High School. He comes to believe Izumo is a girl after performing with him in the play ''Narukami'', as he touches Izumo's breasts and find it soft (actually it was a donut). He has a crush on Izumo ever since. He's very flamboyant and likes to show off that he is handsome. He often tries to protect Izumo but also holds himself back so that Izumo can grow for the sake of Kabuki.
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:Son of kabuki family ''Minamoto-ya'', and a ''tachiyaku'' actor. First year student of the entertainment division in Shijogawara High School. Having childish features, he had played only child roles until the age of 15, as he was afraid the audience will not accept him as an adult. Izumo encourages him to play his first adult role in the play ''Kamakura Sandai Ki''. He's clingy to Izumo. Many scenes show that he has a much darker, imp-like personality underneath his cute exterior.
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:First son of kabuki family ''Sugawara-ya'', one of the most prominent families in the kabuki world. ''Tachiyaku'' actor, and second year student of the entertainment division in Shijogawara High School. As the heir of his family, he was promised good roles but was eventually spoiled by it, having rough manners and not showing up for practice. He actually acted this way because he wanted Matsuki to become the head of house, not himself. He has also taken a liking to Izumo and calls him pipsqueak and tends to fight with Matsuki over Izumo.
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:Second son of kabuki family ''Sugawara-ya'', ''tachiyaku'' actor, and first year student of the normal division in Shijogawara High School. He is also a regular customer of the maid cafe where Izumo works part-time. Matsuki hated his older brother Umeki, for his rough behavior and loss of respect for Kabuki. Dispute between the brothers came to a solution after Izumo served to bridge them in the play ''Kagotsurube''. The first time he met Izumo was when Izumo was working in a maid cafe. He developed some feelings for the 'female' Izumo but immediately squashed them when he realized that Izumo was male. Despite that, he still calls Izumo 'Maid', much to the other's chagrin and fights with Umeki over Izumo.

Kunisaki family

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:Izumo's father and the present head of ''Kunisaki-ya''. He loves his son, apparently too much, getting sexually aroused by Izumo dressed in female costumes. Because of his obsession with his son, his wife left him and took Izumo with her.
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:Izumo's apprentice. He declared love to Izumo while dressed in girl's clothing, and demanded to enter Kunisaki-ya as a ''onnagata'' to be. A third year junior high school student, he wishes to become a Kabuki actor after being enthralled by Izumo's stage performance during a school trip to the theater.

Kabuki actors

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:An actor from the Kansai region, who claims himself to be the top young actor of Kansai-style kabuki, or ''Kamigata-Kabuki''. He seems to be arrogant and proud, but is actually very serious about acting and therefore, sensitive. He suffers from a slump due to poor relationship with other actors while practicing for the kabuki play '' Sonezaki Shinju'', but eventually managed to overcome that with the help of Izumo and Umeki.
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:Leader of a new kabuki troupe . He bears a grudge against traditional kabuki, and goes hard on traditional actors like Izumo. He once belonged to a traditional kabuki family, but was banned from it because his teacher decided his performance did not follow traditions. Recovers relationship with his former teacher through the play ''Yamatotakeru''.
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:A son of a traditional kabuki family, he was tortured in Kiyora's Zan-kabuki troupe. He is an extremely optimistic person, and does not think he was being ill-treated at all.
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:Veteran kabuki ''onnagata'' actor. A 90-year-old living national treasure with extreme beauty on stage.

Other characters

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:A childhood friend of Izumo, and daughter of kabuki family ''Nakamura-ya''. She is not a kabuki actress, as kabuki is only performed by men, but knows a lot about kabuki and the ''Rien''. She is a first year student in the entertainment division just like Izumo, and is hinted to be a TV talent of some sort. Calls Izmo "Ikkun". A fan of Kagato.
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:Student guidance teacher of Shijogawara High School. She strictly keeps an eye on her students, but she does not hide her sexual arousal for Izumo. A kabuki fan in her childhood, she was hurt by the haughty behavior of an actor she liked, causing her to abandon her love for kabuki until she was ordered to check Izumo's performance in the play ''Sannin Kichiza''.
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:A rich kid suffering from a lack of attention from his father, who is an important patron of Kunisaki-ya. After watching Izumo's kabuki stage performance in ''Yotsuya Kaidan'', the father and son began to take time together.
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:A Kabuki actor who came back from overseas performance. Izumo challenged Roku because of his bad attitude towards others such as blackmailing and threatening other people.
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:A movie star with a strong obsession for beauty. He is interested in Izumo's beauty, and plans to make Izumo quit Kabuki in order to keep him by himself.
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:A male idol belonging to a major idol production. He persists on being a perfect idol, and very sensitive about making a scandal.
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:A leader of the student council room group, Kikuo returns to school from a year's suspension. He wears chains all around him, and is feared for his violent attitude. He meets Izumo on the way to his first day back in school, and later revealed, a Kabuki actor.

Production

published a prototype one-shot of the series in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' in 2009. It was a battle story, in which the hero Izumo transforms into a battle form of Izumo no Okuni, a ''miko'' who is believed to have invented the theatrical art form of kabuki. This prototype was republished in '' Shōnen Sunday Super'' on January 25, 2011. ''Kunisaki Izumo no Jijō'' is labeled as an series in the obi strip and media sources introducing the manga. On the other hand, this series highlights the Japanese traditional performing art kabuki, which is rather rare to be a manga theme. Hirakawa stated that kabuki is a theme she always wanted to write about. She was born and raised in Shimane Prefecture, believed to be the birthplace of Izumo no Okuni. She became interested in kabuki when she participated in a play about Izumo no Okuni when she was in junior high school. The series was put on hiatus in November 2011, due to Hirakawa's health issues, and resumed in February 2012.

Media

Manga

''Kunisaki Izumo no Jijō'' is written and illustrated by Aya Hirakawa. Hirakawa released a prototype one-shot of the series in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' in 2009 (republished in '' Shōnen Sunday Super'' on January 25, 2011). The manga was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from January 13, 2010 to March 26, 2014. Shogakukan collected its chapters in nineteen ''tankōbon'' volumes, released from April 16, 2010 to May 16, 2014.

Volume list

Drama CD

A drama CD was released as a bundle for the limited edition of Volume 7 of the manga on October 14, 2011. Another CD was bundled with Volume 11 on October 16, 2012.

See also

*'' Tenshi to Akuto!!'', another manga series by the same author
*'' Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi'', another manga series by the same author

References

External links

''Kunisaki Izumo no Jijō''
at ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunisaki Izumo no Jijo
Comedy anime and manga
Cross-dressing in anime and manga
Kabuki
Manga series
Shogakukan manga
Shōnen manga
Theatre in anime and manga